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Daily Archives: September 28, 2011

Rutgers coach Greg Schiano discussed the challenges of defending Syracuse quarterback Ryan Nassib and the overall state of his team heading into Saturday’s Big East opener at Syracuse following practice this afternoon:

PISCATAWAY A year after ranking last in the Big East in stopping the run, Rutgers sits atop the conference in rush defense through four weeks.

Though it stands to reason that Rutgers is better poised to stop the run due to several changes Greg Schiano made to his defense during the offseason, the Rutgers coach wouldn’t go that far when presented with the question earlier this week.

“Not ready to judge that yet,” said Schiano, who also runs Rutgers’ zone-blitzing defense. “I like our defense. Even though we played poorly Saturday, we need to play precise. We’re not the biggest crew in the world. So if we’re not precise, we’re going to get caught.”

Asked what has been the key to stopping the run, Schiano pointed to the Scarlet Knights’ Big East-leading 28 tackles-for-loss.

“You get TFLs and it puts people behind schedule,” Schiano said. “Stopping the run we get TFLs and then we just play hard and run to the ball.”

Not satisfied with his unit’s speed last season, Schiano last spring implemented several changes designed to make the defense more athletic. Most notably, Schiano moved Khaseem Greene to weakside linebacker from safety, David Rowe to safety from cornerback, and Manny Abreu to defensive end from linebacker before explaining, “By moving guys down a level, often times when you’re of marginal speed or marginal ability and you move down all of a sudden you’re one of the better athletes.”

Through three games, Schiano said he believes the jury is still out as far as just how effective the changes have been. But he conceded the defense is quite a bit faster.

If so, who should it be against and why? College Football is part of the fond fabric in America due to the school spirit and contagious support from the alums and home state. Every Saturday, millions of people tune in to watch their favorite college football teams battle among each other for superiority, respect, and […]

We preview this weekend’s action here Coming off of the Big Ten Championships two weeks ago, Rutgers will send ten male and two female track and field athletes to this weekend’s NCAA East Regional Preliminary Championships. It takes place from May 24th to 26th in Tampa, Florida, Here is full breakdown of which athletes are […]